Mon, Jan 19, 2009
Farewell Message Broadcast Live To Employees
Michael Griffin, head of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration since 2005, said goodbye to fellow employees Friday
in a live broadcast from NASA headquarters in Washington, DC.
Griffin congratulated workers for their success in restoring the
public's trust in NASA after the tragic loss of the space shuttle
Columbia in 2003. "Nothing, nothing in the world, is harder than
picking yourself up after a cataclysm . . . and moving forward, and
we've done it," he said.
Although Griffin wanted to continue as NASA Administrator under
the new presidential administration, Griffin submitted his
resignation several weeks ago when it became apparent that he and
President-Elect Obama
had very different ideas about the direction
NASA should be headed in the future.
"If you can't support the agenda, then the proper thing to do is
to leave," Griffin said. "There are many different things you could
do with a $17.5-billion NASA civil space program. But what we can't
do is squabble and fight."
Although some have questioned the wisdom of changing
administrators at this time, Griffin urged NASA workers to support
whoever is chosen as his successor, the Los Angeles Times
reports.
"NASA will look great whether we're asked to return to the moon
and establish a permanent presence there and go to Mars, as I think
we ought to be asked to do, or whether we're asked to carry out
some other task," Griffin said.
NASA Associate Administrator Christopher Scolese will oversee
operations in the interim until a new administrator is appointed.
As ANN reported last week, retired Air Force
Major General Jonathan Scott Gration is currently the odds-on
favorite to fill the role.
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